Australia v South Africa Rugby Championship Rd.3 Preview

The second match in Rugby Championship Round 3 is in Brisbane where Australia’s Wallabies host South Africa’s Springboks.

Both teams have had to travel for this match but South Africa have done the most traveling as their last match was in Salta Argentina. They did however travel earlier than usual to get to Brisbane to reduce fatigue.

Australia’s last match was two weeks ago in Wellington which is a considerably shorter distance to travel.

Australia have yet to win a match in the Rugby Championship this season and they are on a six match losing streak having lost to the All Blacks in the World Cup final and then twice this year. In addition they also lost three matches to England in June.

South Africa are not enjoying their greatest form either. They were beaten by Argentina in their last outing and came close to a draw or a loss in Nelspruit the week before that. They were beaten by Ireland in June and were less than convincing in their two victories over Ireland.

Both teams will therefore be very eager to get a win under their belts but Australia will be that little more desperate as they are on a losing streak and it is crucial to win your home matches.

Australia have played South Africa 81 times since 1933 and they have won 35 matches or 43% of the contests. The average score regardless of the venue when these teams meet is Australia 17 South Africa 19.

Australia have played South Africa 36 times in Australia and they have won 23 times or 64% of the matches. The average score when Australia play South Africa in Australia is : Australia 21 South Africa 16.

The teams have met 13 times in Brisbane and Australia have won 10 matches and lost 3. This translates to them winning 77% of their matches. The average score when Australia play South Africa in Brisbane is : Australia 24 South Africa 15.

For this match Australia head coach Michael Cheika has made two forced changes. Reece Hodge comes in on the wing to replace veteran Wallaby Adam Ashley-Cooper who has been forced to return to France and his club side Bordeaux.

In the only other change, Dean Mumm will start at blindside flanker in his 49th Test and partner David Pocock and Michael Hooper in the backrow. Mumm replaces Scott Fardy.

Springbok coach Allister Coetzee has re-jigged his backline with former Bulls winger/scrumhalf Francois Hougaard coming in to replace Ruan Combrinck who was injured in the Springboks loss to Argentina in Salta.

In other changes to the backline Jesse Kriel comes in for Lionel Mapoe while Hougaard’s fellow Olympic Sevens partner Juan de Jongh comes into the starting line up replacing Damien de Allende.

The starting forward pack has been retained from the loss to Argentina with the exception of Vincent Koch who has been replaced by Lourens Adriaanse.